Late Show UK

Following the recent controversy on BBC Radio 2, Jonathan Ross was suspended along with the Radio 2 host Russell Brand. Russell Brand has since quit his Radio 2 show and the BBC Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas has resigned. It has now been confirmed that Jonathan Ross will be suspended for three months (12 weeks) without pay.

BBC News says “it is believed the suspension of pay will cost the entertainer more than £1 million”. BBC director general Mark Thompson describes Jonathan Ross’s suspension as “an exceptional step” and the content on Russell Brand’s Radio 2 show a “very serious breach of editorial standards”. Mr Thompson also says this is a “final warning” for Jonathan Ross.

It has also now been confirmed that Film 2008 With Jonathan Ross has been taken off the air, and - presumably - any programme featuring Jonathan. The suspension will mean Friday Night With Jonathan Ross won’t return to BBC1 until mid-January 2009 or the beginning of February 2009. It’s not known what will replace Friday Night With Jonathan Ross in the meantime but tonight’s show has been replaced by the film Speed. The BBC could get in guest hosts for the programme, but - in my opinion - this is unlikely.

BBC News - “Ross suspended for three months”
BBC News - “Thompson statement on calls row” (Video report)
BBC News - “BBC draws a line under radio row”

There’s less than a week to go until the US elections. US presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama appeared via satellite on yesterday’s edition of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. For viewers in the UK, this will air on More 4 tonight at 8.30pm or you can watch the embedded video (if you’re reading this on the homepage click on the link below for the video);

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Last updated 4th November

There will be a US Election special combining The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report on election night - Tuesday 4th November. The special show - called “Indecision 2008: America’s Choice” will air live on Comedy Central in the US (west coast) from 7pm-8pm PT and will be shown from 10pm-11pm ET. The special show will broadcast from The Daily Show studio in New York and will also be screened on the huge JumboTron TV screen in Times Square.

A press release on Comedy Central’s website says The Daily Show and The Colbert Report “head into November coming off the series’ most watched month ever in October” and that they “are currently on pace to record their most watched years ever”. The press release also reveals “there will also be a Live Blogging Event [on the indecision2008.com website] from 7:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. ET with comedian Patton Oswalt” and “postings will take place all day by the site’s bloggers who will report the latest news on the presidential election as well as the hot races in the House and Senate”.

For viewers in the UK, More 4 will be airing this special show the following night (Wednesday 5th November) at 8.45pm through to 9.35pm. More 4 is available on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky. FX UK will also air the special show on Wednesday 5th November at 10pm. FX UK is available on Virgin Media and Sky.

On a related election note - Barack Obama appeared on The Daily Show last night, which will be broadcast on More 4 tonight (Thursday 30th October) at 8.30pm.

Read the Comedy Central press release - click here.

Last updated 29th October 2008 at 20:40

Jonathan Ross has been suspended by the BBC following this week’s controversial prank calls on BBC Radio 2, and Russell Brand has now quit his Radio 2 show. Jonathan was a guest on Russell Brand’s Radio 2 programme where - in a recorded interview - they made prank calls to ex-Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs. Russell and Jonathan left messages on Mr Sach’s answerphone where Russell Brand said he had slept with Mr Sach’s granddaughter and Jonathan Ross swore. Over 18000 complaints have been made to the BBC about this matter.

BBC News reports Andrew Sachs said to them Jonathan “personally delivered a letter of apology and some flowers” but that he hadn’t “heard anything” from Russell Brand.

Director General of the BBC Mark Thompson has described the incident as a “completely unacceptable broadcast” and has apologised to license fee payers and anyone who was offended by the comments made by Jonathan and Russell during the programme.

Georgina Baillie (Andrew Sach’s granddaughter) has told The Sun newspaper “it was bad enough that they recorded these things on my grandfather’s answer machine but astonishing the BBC saw fit to broadcast it when they could have stopped it”.

Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand have both now issued apologises, and Russell has quit his Radio 2 show with immediate effect. Jonathan says he’s “deeply sorry and greatly regret the upset and distress that my juvenile and thoughtless remarks on the Russell Brand show have caused”. Russell says he’s “apologised to Andrew Sachs for the rude messages I left on October 18 and he has graciously accepted” and that he has “decided that given the subsequent coverage I will stop doing the show”.

This week’s edition of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross has been cancelled (it was due to be recorded today for broadcast this Friday evening) - the guests for that show would have been David Attenborough, Miley Cyrus, Frank Skinner and The Killers. All future editions of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross have been cancelled until further notice. Jonathan Ross’s show on Radio 2 has also been cancelled until further notice. It’s not clear what will happen with regards to Film 2008 With Jonathan Ross on BBC1 but it’s likely this will be taken off the air as well (a James Bond special was due to air this Sunday in addition to the usual weekly shows).

Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.

BBC News - “Brand and Ross suspended by BBC”
BBC News - “Brand and Ross: BBC statement”
BBC News - “Brand and Ross: Apologies in full”
BBC News - “Brown condemns Brand prank calls” (Video report)
The Sun - “‘Sickos’ Ross and Russ suspended”
Reuters - “BBC suspends Brand and Ross over calls”
Metro - “Brand and Ross suspended”
Teletext - “BBC suspends Ross and Brand”

Updated 3rd November 2008

The schedules for CNBC this week are as follows;

Monday will see The Tonight Show With Jay Leno at 11pm UK time in a 30 minute timeslot and there will be no Late Night With Conan O’Brien. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday has The Tonight Show With Jay Leno at 10pm UK time for 45 minutes followed by Late Night With Conan O’Brien at 10.45pm UK time for 45 minutes.

Weekend schedules remain unchanged (8pm for The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and 8.45pm for Late Night With Conan O’Brien).

These timeslots seem to be becoming pretty regular now but it’s not known if this will become a permanent schedule.

Full episodes of the Late Show With David Letterman can now be watched on CBS.com via their HD Video Gallery service. However, I have not been able to get this to work on my UK broadband connection so it must only be for people in the US. Late Show episodes are uploaded in High Quality and High Definition versions using Flash streaming.

Click here for the Late Show at CBS.com’s HD Video Gallery service.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart will be losing Rob Riggle from their correspondent lineup after this season to develop a new comedy series for CBS. E! Online says Rob Riggle described Jon Stewart as a “great mentor and a great friend” and says Jon approved of his new venture. Rob’s departure from The Daily Show comes just after it was announced last week that real life husband and wife Samantha Bee & Jason Jones are also leaving the show to work on a sitcom for CBS. During Rob Riggle’s time on The Daily Show he has been credited with the title of “military analyst” in homage to his real life service in the Marine Corps. Rob was also sent out for a series of Iraq reports for The Daily Show recently.

E! Online - “Another Daily Show Correspondent Picked Off”
The New York Times - “Sitcom Deals for ‘Daily Show’ Stars”

Cherie Blair - wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair - will be interviewed on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson next week (Tuesday 21st October). Tony Blair recently appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Update: Cherie Blair wasn’t on the 21st October show. It’s not known if her appearance will be rescheduled for a later date.

Senator - and US President hopeful - John McCain came back to the Late Show With David Letterman on Thursday night. It was the first time he’s been back since he famously cancelled his last Late Show appearance a few weeks ago to, supposedly, run back to Washington to fix the economy - when he actually stayed and did an interview with Katie Couric for CBS News instead. John McCain told Letterman “I screwed up”.

Letterman made jokes about McCain on subsequent shows after he cancelled and showed how disappointed he was about it and originally said “This is not the John McCain I know”.

Thursday’s edition of the Late Show With David Letterman got the biggest audience figures since Oprah Winfrey’s appearance back in December 2005 according to CBS and E! Online. John McCain’s appearance on Thursday drew in approximately 6.5 million viewers (beating The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in the ratings, who had Joe Biden on).

CBS has been kind enough to upload the entire John McCain interview to their official YouTube channel, which is great news for us Brits who can no longer watch the Late Show on UK TV. Click here to watch the full interview.

CNN - “McCain, Letterman make nice in ‘Late Show’ visit”
E! Online - “Big Ratings for McCain-Letterman Summit”
E! Online - “McCain to Letterman: “I Screwed Up”"
YouTube - Full John McCain interview

Updated 17th October 2008

The schedules for CNBC next week are as follows;

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno will air at 11pm on Monday for 30 minutes, then it will air at 10pm Tuesday-Friday for the full 45 minutes.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien won’t air on Monday, but it will then air at 10.45pm Tuesday-Friday for the full 45 minutes.

Weekend schedules remain unchanged (8pm for The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and 8.45pm for Late Night With Conan O’Brien).

It was the 3000th edition of the Late Show With David Letterman on CBS last night. Guests on the show were Sarah Silverman from Saturday Night Live & The Sarah Silverman Program, the Teutuls from American Chopper and music from Ra Ra Riot. Click the links below to watch Dave’s monologue from that 3000th show and a clip of the Sarah Silverman interview.

Congratulations Dave!

13th October - Dave’s Monologue | Sarah Silverman clip

Senator John McCain - running for President in this November’s US Election - will be coming back to the Late Show With David Letterman this Thursday. This will be the first time the senator has been on the Late Show since he infamously cancelled on his previous Letterman appearance a couple of weeks ago. David Letterman mentioned his frustration and annoyance that McCain cancelled publicly on his shows recently.

The excuse McCain gave for cancelling his last appearance was that he needed to rush back to Washington to fix the economy, when it turned out he was actually doing interviews with Katie Couric and didn’t leave for Washington until the next day. It’s not known whether he will bring Sarah Palin - his Vice President candidate - with him to the Late Show, but Dave has hinted that he would like them both to appear on the show together.

Thursday will mark John McCain’s 13th appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman.

McCain originally exclusively announced on Letterman’s show that he was running for President in the US Elections.

Reuters - “McCain set for makeup appearance on Letterman show”